


We Are Going to be Friends

by ElvisRose



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, Derek and Stiles are Mates, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Post-Nogitsune, Pre-Series, Sleepy Cuddles, Stuffed Toys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-24
Updated: 2014-11-24
Packaged: 2018-02-26 20:53:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2666003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElvisRose/pseuds/ElvisRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Derek meets Cora's friend Genim, he's small and scrawny and covered in moles, with a giant mop of whiskey colored hair that perfectly matches his wild eyes. He meets Derek, Nora and Cora at the gate and the second he sees Cora his motor mouth starts off on who would win in a fight, a Vampire or a Fairy? He heaves in a long breath, looks at Derek with a strange knowing glow in his eyes and says, “We are going to be friends.” And then starts off on a different debate with Cora as they walk to school,.</p><p>Stiles stops coming around a year later.</p><p>Nine years later they become friends and more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Are Going to be Friends

Beacon Hills Elementary has a fairly large field for such a small school. The school itself is bordered by quaint neighborhoods and one main road. The drive to said school from the Hale House on the preserve is a long one. Longer, made by the fact that all of the Hale children are attending different schools. Talia Hale simply cannot be bothered to stop at the elementary, jr. high, and high schools every morning and evening. Which is why Laura and Derek have their own cars.  
At the back left corner of the elementary field there’s a small gate that will lead through a nice neighborhood that leads to Beacon Hills High on the other side of that quaint little suburb. So 16 year old Derek Hale will load up 9 year old Nora and 8 year old Cora every morning and drive to his school a half hour early to walk his little sisters through the small neighborhood, to their elementary school. While Laura gets the unpleasant task of dropping off 13 year old Eric at Jr. High. 

 

Derek will and Laura will also take their respective siblings home. Nora and Cora like to regal Derek with tales of their teachers and friends. Nora is shy and quiet while Cora is loud and abrasive. She’s exactly the type of girl that 8 year old Derek would not have wanted to be friends with. Probably because she’s too much like him. 

 

But that doesn’t stop 8 year old Genim Stilinksi from forming a fast friendship with her. Genim is best friends with a small boy with a mop of hair and a crooked jaw name Scotty. But Scotty has asthma and he can’t run and play like Genim wants. So he and Cora cause trouble by running and wrestling during recess. And Genim and Scotty cause non athletic trouble in class. Is a strange friendship to be sure. 

 

Derek had never met Genim and he’s not entirely sure he’s real. What kind of name is Genim anyways. He knows Scotty is real because one time Cora and Scotty both got afterschool detention and Derek had to wait with Nora outside of class. Cora ranted about how unfair it was that Genim didn’t have to have detention either. After all it was his fault that the teacher sat in a pile of glue, feathers and glitter. Scotty kindly but firmly rebuked her because Stile’s was in the hospital with him mom.

 

One day Cora tells Derek that Genim’s mom smells bad. Like she’s sick, dying. And Genim doesn’t know. He thinks she’s getting better. And Cora doesn’t know what to do. That night she cries in Talia’s arms and Derek doesn’t know what to do either. Cora has a crush on this human boy and he’s going to get his heart broken and Cora will hurt for him. She already does. 

 

Derek’s no stranger to heartbreak. Not after Paige. He never wants to experience it again. His sisters still don’t understand why Derek’s eyes are blue. Eric does and he exploits it any chance he gets. Or he tried, until he hit puberty and gave Derek plenty of ammunition to use against him. 

 

In the end Talia tells Cora that Genim probably knows that his momma is dying, but he just wishes she wasn’t. 

 

Cora goes back to school and says nothing.

 

After that Derek meets Genim. He's small and scrawny and covered in moles, with a giant mop of whiskey colored hair that perfectly matches his wild eyes. And Derek lets himself believe that this boy is somehow involved in the supernatural world. Because how could he not be? He meets Derek, Nora and Cora at the field gate and the second he sees Cora his motor mouth starts off on who would win in a fight, a Vampire or a Fairy. 

 

He heaves in a long breath, looks at Derek with a strange knowing glow in his eyes and says, “We are going to be friends.” And then starts off on a different debate with Cora as they walk to school, Nora joining in occasionally. 

 

When Derek tells Talia about this she just smiles and pats his head. She doesn’t believe that Stiles has magic. Derek’s never seen the boy do it but something about him has to be magic.

 

Genim comes over to their house after that. He meets them at the gate every morning and sometimes he’ll walk back with them in the afternoon and come over to their house. Derek asks his mother Claudia if it’s ok. And Cora’s right, she does smell like death. Claudia just smiles at him, looking so much like her son, with her wild eyes and her moles and shoos them off.

 

Genim is well loved at the Hale house. Even creepy uncle Peter likes him. Derek sees him sometimes, he’s eyeing Genim as if he’s trying to figure out what he is. Derek’s glad he’s not the only one that sees it but he hates that Peter does. Genim and Eric hate each other. With a vengeance. And Stiles is good at pulling pranks. Good enough to bypass even their “wolf powers” as Cora dubs it. He gets Eric every time.

 

Eric only gets him once. The pure awe on Genim’s face at being pranked is adorable. Sometimes Derek wishes he were 8 just so he can play batman with Genim and it won’t be weird. He and Genim become friends, true to the boys word. Derek feels weird that his best friend is an 8 year old but no one mentions it. 

 

And then all too soon the friendship stops.

 

Summer comes and Cora and Stiles play twice a week and then once a week and then not at all. Stiles and Cora aren’t in the same class the next year and they don’t talk or play very much. Scotty’s asthma has gotten worse and Stiles’ mom isn’t getting any better. Stiles doesn’t have time to play. Doesn’t have time to be carefree. 

 

He still comes by once a month. Derek doesn’t have much time to spend with the little guy because Cora covets his time. Derek starts being friends with the new girl Kate, she’s a senior and he’s a sophomore. Genim hates her. Whenever they’re at the house at the same time it ends with a lot of shouting. Gradually the visits become less and less frequent.

 

When Genim turns 10 his mother dies. Kate goes with Derek as his girlfriend, to Claudia’s funeral. Stiles doesn’t even acknowledge him or Cora. Cora frowns but says nothing, clutching Derek’s sleeve and crying for her friend’s loss. 

 

Genim never comes back over. 

 

A year later he realizes he should have trusted Genim when he said Kate was evil.

 

Kate lied.

 

And now his family is dead.

 

All he has is Laura. 

 

His annoying, pudgy brother Eric is dead. Derek misses him.

 

Sweet, quiet Nora is dead. Burned to a crisp. Derek weeps for her.

 

Loud, abrasive and empathetic Cora is dead as well. Derek’s wolf howls for vengeance.

 

Countless others are gone as well. Peter is living but no better off. 

 

Derek doesn’t believe in love. 

 

Doesn’t believe in miracles. Or magic. 

 

Laura takes him to New York to live with Uncle Alexander. They finish high school. They go to college. Derek forgets all about that little boy with the wild whiskey eyes that demanded that they’d be friends. All he cares about now is living. Uncle Alexander doesn’t know about wolves. His brother, their dad, had been human all his life. Laura and Derek are omegas. And it’s dangerous but they don’t think they can ever belong to another pack again.

 

Laura goes back to Beacon Hills and when he doesn’t hear from her, Derek follows. He finds her body, ripped and torn in the woods. He buries her and plots his vengeance. He goes back to the spot he found her body. It smells of an unfamiliar wolf and two others, panic, fear, and blood. He spies an inhaler and frowns. He hears the boys before he sees them. The loud one with the hideous buzz cute and the moles is yelling about lycanthropy and shit. His mop haired companion is talking about how he found Laura’s body. Derek scowls at them and confronts them. The mop head smells of fear and change. He’s been bitten then. Derek scowls harder. The pale one smells of curiosity and wonder. His heart barely even stutters when he blathers his excuse for being out here.

 

Derek throws the inhaler.

 

As he walks back he hears the loud one explain who he is to the other one.

 

When they dig up Laura’s body and get him arrested he hears officer Stilinski call them Stiles and Scott. Derek frowns. The boys look to be about as old as Cora would be, if she were alive. For the first time in years he thinks about her crush on Genim and how she hated that he was in love with that red head Lydia. Didn’t Genim have a best friend named Scotty?

 

Stiles gets in the car to threaten him. Derek bites back a gasp, Genim. Stiles is Genim. And he dug up Laura’s body and framed Derek for her murder. Derek scowls deeper and threatens him right back.

 

The years go on and Derek finds himself a pack with these children. Stiles, why the hell is he Stiles now?, doesn’t show any inkling of recognition. Not when he sees the Hale house. Not when he has his continuous run ins with Peter. Peter who still eyes him like he’s trying to figure it out. Nothing flickers in those whiskey eyes no matter what they say or do. 

 

Erica calls Stiles “Batman” and it sets Derek’s teeth on edge. He remembers playing with that wild little boy. Stiles was always Batman and Derek had been his Robin. Now Derek is the failwolf. Stiles doesn’t like Derek. He fears him even. As the years drag on, the fear lessens but the friendship doesn’t grow. Stiles treats him like an equal but not as a friend. 

 

Derek knows that he’s not helping either. But he can’t stop looking at this little boy and seeing little Genim, crying when he fell off the swing at the Hale house and broke his wrist. 

 

When they bring Cora back, nothing flickers in either of their eyes. Until one night, after the alphas are done with, when Stiles is ranting in Derek’s loft about what an idiot he is for sleeping with Jennifer. He’s lecturing Derek about letting hormones cloud your judgment of people. The pack is watching Stiles shout and Derek glare.

 

Scott laughs and says “You’re one to talk.” And everything grinds to halt. Stiles looks confused and Scott brings up Stile’s massive crush on Lydia that he’s had since they were children. Its bad form, Derek thinks, bringing that up in front of Lydia. Lydia and Stiles share an equally disgusted look and the argument resumes. But Cora’s eyes sparkle and she looks at Derek in confusion.

 

He nods once and she turns to Stiles, opening her mouth to yell at him, probably. Derek jerks his head slightly and she frowns but listens. Cora never brings it up but she looks at Stiles differently. And he notices. He squints at her when she’s not looking and he avoids her whenever possible. Stiles is scared of Cora, Derek realizes. Derek smiles at the thought.

 

Stiles has become a vital part of the pack. He’s proven his worth. And when Derek looks at him he no longer sees Genim clutching his stuffed wolf plush that Derek had given him for his 9th birthday. No, he sees Stiles, pouring over grimores and bestiaries and saving their asses time after time. And somewhere along the way, Derek fell for the idiot. 

 

He knows he shouldn’t like him. He’s eight years older than him for christsake, he’s Cora’s age. He’s a child. But Derek still loves the boy. And Stiles doesn’t even notice. He certainly doesn’t see Derek that way. They're friends now. And Derek isn't going to risk that by spilling his feelings.

 

After the business with the Nogitsune, Derek sneaks into Stiles window. Stiles isn’t asleep. Derek doubts the boy gets much sleep after that. He grunts to get the boy’s attention and Stiles doesn’t even startle, he just rolls onto his side and looks at Derek, searching for something. What, Derek doesn’t know. Derek sighs and slips off his shoes and jacket and crawls into the bed beside Stiles.

 

He lays there, between the boy and the wall, a silent invite to talk. But Stiles doesn’t talk, he rolls over to face Derek and pulls the blanket out from under him and then tucks it over him. Stiles stutters a sob and clings to Derek’s chest. Derek stays there a silent reminder of warmth, pack and home. He rubs Stiles’ back absently with his free hand.

 

Stiles clutches him with one hand, the other clutching tightly onto something else as he cries himself to sleep. Derek isn’t judging Stiles for having a stuffed animal. He doesn’t blame him for wanting something comforting to cling to at night. But when the thing’s beady nose gets uncomfortable against his chest he moves it.

 

Stiles had been dozing peacefully but he grunts and wakes up to scowl when Derek nudges the thing with his arm. Stiles switches arms clutching it and nestles further into Derek’s chest. Derek looks down at the toy and he lets out a small gasp. He looks at Stiles to see his whiskey eyes staring at him, searching again.

 

“You kept it.” Derek whispers, his voice loud in the still quiet of the room.

 

“Why wouldn’t I?” Stiles asked, scooting closer to Derek’s face. “It was a birthday present. It was given to me by my first crush.” He blushes. Derek moans and captures the boy’s mouth in a chaste kiss. Stiles smirks into his mouth when it’s done.

 

“Why didn’t you say anything.” Derek asks, stroking Stiles’ hair.

 

“Why didn’t you?” Stiles asked. Derek sighs and cuddles Stiles’ closer. 

 

“Are we going to be friends now?” Derek asks, smiling into Stiles’ forehead.

 

“Oh, definitely, and more.” Smiles laughs. And Derek’s okay with that. 

More than okay.


End file.
